


The Memories You'd Hoped to Forget.

by GonnaRattleTheStars



Series: BadThingsHappen - R2 [1]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: BadThingsHappen R2 - Denied Food as Punishment, Gen, Starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:46:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GonnaRattleTheStars/pseuds/GonnaRattleTheStars
Summary: At the royal banquet of Corona, Lance is taken back to his time in a lonely jail cell and having been deprived of the one thing that he always took for granted as a criminal.PROMPT COMPLETED:DENIED FOOD AS PUNISHMENT.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Lance Strongbow
Series: BadThingsHappen - R2 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877452
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	The Memories You'd Hoped to Forget.

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by CampionSayn!
> 
> If you would like to request a BadThingsHappen prompt for me to complete, please go [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25735255)! All I ask is that you read the rules and follow them.

Lance hadn't seen a buffet like this in forever. In fact, he can't even remember the last time he'd seen a decent meal in forever. Rapunzel and Cassandra are busy with setting everything up, along with King Frederick and Queen Arianna. Eugene is chatting him up, telling a story about his and Rapunzel's latest adventure; however, he's not really listening.

Staring at all that food... it makes him want to just dive in and eat like he hadn't ever eaten before. He remembers the orphanage not even giving them so much as a handful of bread, much less an entire buffet.

Don't even get him started on the way the Corona prison guards had treated him. His last meal in there was a stale piece of bread and some water that looked way less than appealing.

As the rest of the citizens come in to help, he moves closer to the table of food. Oh, it looks so delicious... his mouth waters at the sight of the pies, the cakes, the chicken and steak and potatoes...

However, that doesn't last very long as the memories come flooding back.

* * *

_He'd been caught. He'd been caught by the guards of Corona trying to steal the princess's crown, and he doesn't know when he'll be getting out. His friend, his partner-in-crime, Flynn Rider, had abandoned him (at least that's how he saw it at the time), leaving Lance to fend for himself in this dingy cell. All they'd given him the first night to eat was a small bowl of what looked like it could've been stew, but he wasn't sure. Was stew supposed to be a green color??_

_"That's all you're getting tonight," the Captain had barked as a guard slid the bowl under the bars, "and don't you ask for anything else!"_

_"Yes, sir," Lance had responded, taking the bowl in his hands and pretending to eat it. Once the guard and Captain were out of sight, he gave it an actual taste._

_Yup, definitely had a pungent taste to it. Probably was weeks old, maybe months. Lance immediately recoiled at the aftertaste, dropping the bowl as he sprinted for the window to vomit. His stomach grumbled, and he was left to his own devices for the rest of the night, the only guard outside the cell having (ironically) fallen into a deep sleep._

_The years seemed to drag on, and even when he was rewarded for good behavior, albeit once in a blue moon, he'd still fuck up somehow and be refused even a crumb of bread. Those were the nights he would lay awake, trying to hide the rumbling of his stomach. There was this one time that he'd refused to do something Cap had ordered of him (he can't remember what it was), and as a severe punishment, he'd been denied food for an entire week._

_How he was still alive after that week of no food, Lance had never figured out. All he'd been given was water to drink, but that didn't stop his stomach from yelling at him that he needed nutrients._

_There were times when he thought he'd die right in this cell, not being given the chance to find his friend and either tell him off for throwing him to the wolves or reconcile with him._

_On the last day of his imprisonment, he'd been rewarded for good behavior and given a piece of bread and water. The bread was stale and the water had an aftertaste that was less than pleasant, but it was better than enduring absolutely nothing to eat._

_Lance had gorged heavily on what he could steal without getting caught, which eventually made him sick and repulsed by even the smells of food for a long while. It was only after he'd been out of the Corona jail for at least another year that he was able to calm down with eating. He knew that gorging wasn't going to get him better, and the thief had tried his hardest not to eat so much, but it was impossible when you weren't given so much as table scraps for a whole week._

_He had to make the best of his situation, though, if he wanted to make it out in the streets. His survival skills were a bit rusty after being in a jail cell for so long, but Lance Strongbow had survived the orphanage and now prison, so he felt he could make it out here._

* * *

"Hey, Lance," Eugene gets the man's focus back to the present, putting a hand to his shoulder, "you feeling okay there, buddy?"

Lance turns to Eugene and gives him a half smile. "Yeah, Eugene, I-I'm fine. I was just..." He trails off, looking to the side instead of at Eugene directly.

"Just...?"

"Just remembering... my-my time in prison."

"...Oh..." Eugene doesn't press for more information, knowing that jailtime was a touchy subject for his best friend. His attention is turned to Rapunzel calling the both of them over. As they stroll over to the princess, she greets Eugene with a kiss on the cheek and a hug for Lance.

"I can't wait for you two to try out my new recipe! Cassandra and Mom helped me."

"Whoa, whoa, Blondie," Eugene grasps Rapunzel's shoulders gently, "if _Cassandra_ helped you make it, I don't want to try it." At that last part, he narrows his eyes at Cassandra, standing by the supposed new recipe, which looks a lot like a casserole.

"Don't worry, Fitzherbert," Cassandra smirks, "the poison's not gonna hurt ya _too much_."

"That's exactly what you'd say if you were trying to poison me, Cassandra!"

As Eugene and Cassandra get into their usual bickering with Rapunzel trying to make peace with them, Lance steals a piece of the casserole. A tiny piece, but it's a start. He may have to control himself a little harder than he was planning to, because this is _good_.

Giving a smile over to Rapunzel, who notices and smiles back, nodding as if she can read his thoughts, he grabs a plate and helps himself to some more.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoy, as this is my first time writing for a completely different fandom.


End file.
